More Marine drones will soon fly on battlefields

The U.S. Marine Corps announced plans to issue quadcopters to all squads last January, according to the National Defense Magazine. Besides providing a bird’s-eye view, these marine drones are designed to help with mapping terrain data, which in turn can be used to create training simulators.

National Defense Magazine

“We’re getting one for every single squad in the entire Marine Corps,” said Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International event at National Harbor, Maryland.

Marine Corps Times

The realistic training simulator is called Tactical Decision Kits, according to the Marine Corps Times. Data pulled from the drones will be used to create combat scenarios for downtime training.